











COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




















































































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AFRICAN FAIRY TALES 












ALTEMUS’ FAIRY TALES SERIES 



The MAN ELEPHANT 

A Book of African 
Fairy Tales 

EDITED with an INTRODUCTION 

By Hartwell James 

WITH FORTY ILLUSTRATIONS 
By JOHN R. NEILL 


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PHILADELPHIA 

HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY 



Two Copies Received 

SEP 22 1906 

Cepyrurnt Entry 

/ v ,j 0 ^ 

WSS XXc., No. 

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Altemus’ 

Illustrated 

Fairy Tales Series 

The Magic Bed 

A Book of East Indian Tales 

The Cat and the Mouse 

A Book of Persian Tales 

The Jeweled Sea 

A Book of Chinese Tales 

The Magic Jaw Bone 

A Book of South Sea Islands Tales 

The Man Elephant 

A Book of African Tales 

The Enchanted Castle 

A Book of Tales from Flower Land 

Fifty Cents Each 

Copyright, 1906 

By Henry Altemus 





A series of fairy tales from different countries 
would be incomplete without a book of stories from 
Africa, which for many years was called the “Dark 
Continent.” 

We are very largely indebted to travelers, explor- 
ers, and missionaries for African legends and sto- 
ries. Those in this book were told to them by the 
natives themselves in dark and gloomy forests, and 
by the great, brown rivers of that wonderful land. 
They are not so much about princes and princesses 
as are the fairy tales of other countries, but are 
more about animals — elephants, and lions, and 
jackals. 

There is plenty of magic in these stories, however. 

W 


INTRODUCTION 

Ramil, the witch mother, used it on her elephant 
son; the hunter’s wife in “The Master Weaver” 
rubbed a stronger magic “medicine” on her hus- 
band’s spear than he had been using, and so had her 
way about things; and The Flying Lion never 
would have lost the power of using his wings if the 
beautiful girl with red flowers in her hair and a gold 
bracelet on her arm had not learned how to make an 
invisible robe for herself. “King Mungo” is a very 
funny story, and in “Uncle Lion” we are told how 
the phrase “taking the lion’s share” originated. All 
of these tales are extremely interesting. 

The borders and other decorations in the book 
will be of great interest to young people, for they 
represent musical instruments, headdresses, war 
clubs, war drums, spears, belts, idols, and other rude 
objects used by African tribes hundreds of years 
ago. 

H. J. 


[vi] 



CONTE/TR5 


The Man Elephant . 
The Master Weaver 
The Flying Lion • • 
King Mungo . . • • 
Uncle Lion .... 


. 13 
. 39 
. 53 
. 75 
. 91 



[vii] 















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Pago 


“ ‘ Let me go with you and hunt the elephant ’ ” . . • Frontispiece 

“Led her on to talk of the river” 15 

“He was twelve feet high as she had said” 19 

‘“I want them all cooked’” 23 

“ ‘ Save me from the elephant ! ’ ” 25 

“ How she did have to work ” 26 

“ Put her right up on top of a tree ” 28 

“He sniffed suspiciously around the hut” . . 29 

“ Parle remembered a spell ” 31 

“ He saw a spider making a net ” 38 

“ Malla was a great hunter ” 42 

“ The bush-cow rushed furiously upon him ” 43 

“A kind of coarse cloth made of bark” 45 

“All the other women envied her” 46 

“ ‘ He taught me all I know ’ ” 47 

“ Lighted by fire-flies and glow-worms ” 52 

[ix] 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

“The Flying Lion was a terrible beast” 55 

“ ‘ There is some secret about his wings ’ ” 59 

“ Sometimes she had to creep over fallen trees ” 61 

“ ‘ Human beings are queer creatures * ” 63 

“ The Great Frog was sunning himself” 65 

“ ‘ Nothing would give me more pleasure ’ ” 67 

“ The frog was too quick for him ” 68 

“ The largest was an elephant ” 74 

“ Swing himself from one branch to another ” 76 

“ They lived in peace and harmony ” 77 

“A piece of cloth with six holes in it” 79 

“Pulled out his thimble and thread” 81 

“‘Here, dog, bite the cat’” 83 

“Had to go on all fours” 85 

“‘I am glad to see you, Kanja’” . 90 

“ ‘ What is your idea of the lion’s share ? ’ ” 92 

‘“What seems to be the matter?’” 93 

“ They rushed on and on” 96 

“ ‘ His skin will make a nice cloak ’ ” 97 

“ ‘ They are no more your fish than mine ’” 99 

“ * Are you sure you laid perfectly still 102 


M 


THE MAN ELEPHANT 



* 


> 





The Man Elephant 

Parle deserved a better husband than the Man Elephant, but one 
of Ramil’s spells, happily remembered, clears up the situa- 
tion; and Lomi, by inference, cooks his own fish. 


ARLE was a very pretty girl who 
lived with her father and mother 
and two brothers in a hut by the 
side of an African river. 

It was not a pleasant river at 
all, for it was brown in color, and 
flowed through a dark and gloomy forest of great 
trees and closely woven vines. There were croco- 
[ 13 ] 



THE MAN ELEPHANT 


diles, too, in the ugly black river, and Parle was 
afraid to bathe in it. 

Although one would hardly believe it, Parle grew 
up very happily in this little clearing by the river, 
and never had a real grief until her two brothers 
left home to go hunting, and would not take her 
with them. 

“You will see the moon rise and set many times 
before we come back,” they said, “but when we 
come, we will find you a good husband, and we will 
dance merrily at your wedding.” 

“Let me go with you, and hunt the elephant,” 
she pleaded. “I don’t want a husband; I want to 
go with you.” 

“The cooking-pot is better than the spear for 
girls,” said the older brother decidedly, “and you 
must stay at home.” 

“But I want to go so much,” still pleaded the girl, 
“for you may find the great river Ramil has told 
us about so often.” 

“What river is that?” they asked. 

“Why Ramil says the first men who were 

[ 14 ] 


THE MAN ELEPHANT 


ever made, lived by the side of a great river — up 
there,” she answered, pointing vaguely towards the 
north. 

“She says the men were all black; but some of 



them swam across to the other side, and the water 
washed them white. Since then the white men are 
always stretching out their hands and calling to 

the blacks to come across to them.” 

[ 15 ] 


THE MAN ELEPHANT 


“Oh, that Ramil is full of silly stories,” said the 
older brother. “'I don't believe them.” 

“But the white men do come from over there,” 
persisted Parle, gazing northward as if she could 
see the river in the distance. “I should like to swim 
across and be washed white, too!” 

The younger brother thought this the most 
foolish speech he had ever heard. “Well,” he said, 
“there is no accounting for some people's tastes!” 

Then the brothers rubbed their spears with some 
kind of grease which they believed would kill ele- 
phants, and as they did so they sang: 

“When mine enemy thou shalt see, 

Black and tall like an ebony-tree, 

Sing softly, softly, little spear, 

As to his heart thou drawest near.” 

Early the next morning the two brothers started 
on the expedition, leaving their sister behind. In 
her loneliness, she visited the witch-doctress, Ramil, 
oftener than she had ever done before, and led her 
[ 16 ] 


THE MAN ELEPHANT 


on to talk of the river far away beyond the forest, 
and the white men on the other side of it. 

“The best thing for you to do,” said Ramil , “that 
is, if you really want to go there, is to marry my 
son. Then he can carry you on his back through 
the forest.” 

“I should be too heavy,” said Parle, shaking her 
pretty head; “and besides, I don’t want to marry 
anyone.” 

“You could not be too heavy for my son,” replied 
the witch. “His legs are as thick as tree-trunks, 
and he stands twelve feet high at least. 

“As for not wanting a husband,” continued 
Ramil; “that is what all girls say, but they don’t 
mean it.” 

“I wouldn’t want to marry a giant,” said Parle. 

“Oh, he isn’t a giant. He is — but never mind — 
wait till you see him,” replied Ramil mysteriously, 
for she was determined to marry Parle to her son, 
if possible. 

So that evening, when the moon was shining 
softly through the trees, she stole away to the place 

2— The Man Elephant [ 17 ] 


THE MAN ELEPHANT 


where her son was usually to be found at night, and 
by and by she came across him at the edge of a 
swamp, where he had been rolling about in the 
muddy water. 

He was twelve feet high, and had legs like tree- 
trunks, as she had said ; for Ramil’s son was nothing 
more nor less than a big black elephant, and that 
very day he had nearly been killed by Parle’s 
brothers. 

“What do you want of me now, little mother?” 
he asked, rubbing himself gently against a tree. 

“It is time you had a wife,” she replied. “I have 
found the prettiest little wife for you, but she will 
never consent to marry an elephant. Y ou will have 
to let me turn you into a bushman for a little while.” 

“How will you do it? and why is it necessary?” 
asked her son suspiciously. You see, he knew his 
mother was a witch. 

“If you eat one of these,” replied his mother, 
showing him some leaves she had picked on her 
way through the forest, “you will become a hand- 

[ 18 ] 



















































































. 


























































































































































































THE MAN ELEPHANT 


some young bushman, who can woo the girl and 
marry her. 

“Then when you have carried off your bride, you 
can eat another leaf, and then you will be changed 
into an elephant again.” 

“Can she cook fish and make cakes?” asked the 
elephant; “and is she really a pretty girl, my 
mother?” 

“Indeed she is pretty,” said Ramil, noticing that 
her son’s eyes twinkled. “She is as sweet as the 
wild mango blossoms when they fall to the ground 
in the spring. 

“And as to her cooking,” she went on; “I have 
tasted her baked fish and her broth.” And Ramil 
rolled her eyes, remembering how good they had 
been, and pleased to see a look of satisfaction steal- 
ing over her son’s face. 

“I do get so tired of plantain leaves,” said the 
elephant plaintively. 

“No wonder. That’s because your mother 
wasn’t an elephant. Well, she will need a big 
[ 21 ] 


THE MAN ELEPHANT 


cooking-pot ! One baked fish will never satisfy 
you.” 

So Ramil persuaded her son to eat one of the 
leaves, and as soon as he had done it his four legs 
became two, and his clumsy body changed into that 
of a tall, well-made young bushman. 

Then he took a spear in his hand and went with 
his mother to the door of Parle's hut, who thought 
he was the handsomest young man she had ever 
seen. 

“But you said he was twelve feet high, and that 
his legs were like tree-trunks,” she cried. 

And the cunning old woman answered, “That 
was because he was under a spell. He is cured 
now.” So Parle promised to be his wife, and after 
they were married he took her away with him into 
the forest. 

But they did not travel north as he had promised, 
towards the great river which washed black people 
white. Instead, they went south, always south, 

towards the plains where the elephant hunters were 

[ 22 ] 


THE MAN ELEPHANT 


few, and where her husband thought he might 
live in peace with his wife. 

By and by they came to a beautiful country cov- 
ered with green grass and flowers, for it was early 
spring, and there he built her a hut. “Now I will 



go fishing,” he said, “and you shall cook my supper 
when I come back.” 

When he came back, he brought with him thirty 
fish; and when Parle saw them, she said, “three 
would have been enough.” 

[ 23 ] 


THE MAN ELEPHANT 


“I want them all cooked/’ replied her husband. 
“Thirty will not be too many.” 

“But see how large they are!” insisted his wife. 

“That makes no difference. Do as I tell you f ” 
he answered sternly. 

So Parle began to cook them, while her husband 
went behind the hut and ate the second leaf his 
mother had given him. 

And as soon as he had done this, his nose grew 
into a trunk and his teeth into tusks, while his body 
changed into that of a huge elephant, standing four 
feet above the roof ! 

Parle looked up from her cooking and gave a 
scream. “Oh, Lomi ! Lomi !” she called out. “Save 
me from the elephant !” 

“I am Lomi, your husband,” he replied, talking to 
her across the roof of the hut. “Don’t be fright- 
ened.” 

“But I am frightened!” cried the poor girl, 
crouching on the ground and holding her face in 
her hands, while her husband told her the story of 
the trick he had played on her. 

[ 24 ] 


THE MAN ELEPHANT 


“Now all you have to do is to please me,” he 
went on, “or it will be the worse for you. 

“I am tired of elephant food, and want broth, 
baked meat, plenty of fish, and all the good things 
bushmen eat. I will go and hunt for them, and it 



will be your business to see that they are properly 
cooked.” 

So poor Parle had to cook from morning until 
night to satisfy her husband’s appetite. He 
brought home springbok and gemsbok — small deer 
[ 25 ] 


THE MAN ELEPHANT 


which roamed about the plains — and she made 
broths and stews of them, as her mother had taught 
her. 

How she did have to work! Instead of running 



out in the morning to gather flowers, she had to go 
fishing, or to collect eggs to put into the soups. She 
grew so ill and thin that none would have known 
her for the same pretty girl who had left home with 
the young bushman. 


[ 26 ] 


THE MAN ELEPHANT 


But every day, when she came out of her hut, 
she shaded her eyes from the sun, and looked across 
the plain to see if there were any travelers coming 
from the north. “Some day my brothers may find 
me,” she thought. 

So the days went on until one morning her hus- 
band’s breakfast did not please him, and he was so 
angry that he snatched her up in his trunk and put 
her right up on top of a tree which grew near the 
hut. “You shall stay there until I come back,” he 
said. 

It was not much of a punishment, and his wife 
did not mind it at all, for it was rather pleasant than 
otherwise. There was no cooking to be done up 
there, and she could see much farther over the plain 
from the top of the tree. 

So Parle looked and looked, always to the north, 
all the morning, but in vain. At last, about noon, 
two black dots appeared on the line where the plain 
met the sky, and Parle forgot how hungry she was 
as she watched the dots grow larger and larger. 

“I wonder if they are lions,” she thought. “No, 
[ 27 ] 


THE MAN ELEPHANT 


they are men!” she cried aloud. In an hour she 
could see that they were bushmen, coming swiftly 
across the plains; and in a little while she recog- 



nized her brothers, who had traveled all this way 
to find her and hear if she was happy. 

It did not take long for the oldest brother to 
climb the tree and bring her down. And then how 
glad they were to see each other! Parle cooked 
[ 28 ] 


THE MAN ELEPHANT 


them some food and while they were eating it she 
told them how unhappy she was, and made them 
promise to take her away. 

Then they planned how to get away. “We must 
wait until night, or Lomi will catch us,” she told 
them. “I will hide you until it is safe to start.” 



There was a raised wooden platform behind the 
hut, and underneath it Parle kept firewood, rugs 
to sleep on, and all kinds of things for which there 
was not room in the hut. So she stowed away her 
brothers in there; and when Lomi came home, 

[ 29 ] 


THE MAN ELEPHANT 


although he sniffed suspiciously around the hut, he 
did not catch a glimpse of them. 

Then at midnight when Lomi was fast asleep, his 
wife roused her brothers, and they prepared to 
leave. “We are going to kill the elephant,” whis- 
pered the older brother. 

“Indeed, you must not,” replied Parle decidedly. 

“If you won’t let us kill the elephant, you must 
let us take his cattle, at least,” said the younger 
brother. 

So they set out, driving the cattle before them; 
but Parle left behind one cow, one sheep, and one 
goat, telling them to make as much noise as they 
could during the night. 

Lomi waked several times after they had gone, 
but when he heard the noises the cow, the goat, and 
the sheep made, he concluded that all his cattle 
were safe, and went to sleep again each time. 

Early in the morning he found out his mistake, 
but by this time Parle and her brothers were far 
away across the plain. Soon he was in pursuit of 
them, and how fast he did tear over the ground ! 

[ 30 ] 


















































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THE MAN ELEPHANT 


Driving the cattle before them, Parle and her 
brothers flew on and on; but the terrible elephant 
got over the ground much more quickly than they 
could, and at last was only a half a mile away. 

And as if to make it worse, right ahead of them 
were great rocks, too steep to climb, and so high 
they seemed to touch the sky. Then they gave 
themselves up for lost. 

But just then Parle remembered a spell which 
Ramil, the witch, had taught her, and cried out : 

“By the lilies which grow 
On the still lagoon, 

All silver-white 
Under the moon, 

Stone of my fathers. 

Divide ! Divide ! 

Let us pass through 
To the other side.” 

As the words ceased, the rocks opened, and Parle 
with her brothers and the cattle went safely 
through. 

3 — The Man Elephant 


[ 33 ] 


THE MAN ELEPHANT 


And how angry Lomi was when he saw the rocks 
close behind them! 

On the other side there was a beautiful lagoon 
shining in the silvery moonlight, with white lilies 
floating on the water, and it looked so beautiful 
that Parle ran, with a cry of joy, to bathe her face 
and hands in it. 

“I wonder if Ramil’s spell brought it here? Or 
was it here all the time?” she cried in bewilder- 
ment. 

So Parle and her brothers rested there for a time, 
and then went on again to try and find the river of 
which Ramil had told them so often. It would be 
nice to know whether they found it or not, and 
were washed white in its waters, but you will have 
to decide that for yourselves. 

There is one thing quite sure, however, and that 
is, Lomi neve^ saw Parle again, which served him 
quite right. 


[ 34 ] 


THE MASTER WEAVER 

































/ 








The Master Weaver 


It is unwise to change the medicine on one’s husband’s spear, 
as Sassa found out to her sorrow. Still, she acquired a 
much handsomer frock as a resultant occurrence. 


’ NTIL he married Sassa, Malla was 
a great hunter — the greatest in his 
tribe, for he never failed to bring 
home game when he went hunting 
in the bush. 

Malla used to put medicine on 
his spear — at least that is what he called it — but it 

[ 39 ] 



THE MASTER WEAVER 


was only a kind of grease, and then he would hold 
up his spear in front of him and say: 

“Kill, kill, spear of mine, 

Earth-pig and porcupine, 

Bush-cow and bush-deer, 

Kill, kill, little spear. ,, 

It was very odd, but after he married Sassa, his 
spear was always getting fast in the trees, or glid- 
ing past the bush-cows without touching them. 
The fact was, Sassa did not want him to go hunting, 
and as she knew a better charm than his, she 
rubbed a different medicine onto the spear after he 
had finished with it. And this is what she would 
say: 

“Bush-deer and bush-cow, 

Say, who shall hurt you now? 

By my spell you shall be 
Safe and free, safe and free.” 

Malla did not know this, of course, and one day 
he went out after a big, savage bush-cow. He 
threw hjs spear as skilfully as usual, but it passed 

[ 40 ] 


THE MASTER WEAVER 


through the animal’s horns and struck a tree. Then 
the bush-cow rushed furiously upon him, and gored 
him, injuring him so much that he could hardly 
creep home. 

As he lay in his hut, in great pain, his friends 
found out that it was Sassa’s fault that he got hurt, 
and they punished her for it. They need not have 
done so, for Sassa was punished sufficiently by see- 
ing her husband in pain, and she nursed him very 
tenderly. 

One day she said to him, “I witched your spear 
to make you give up hunting, because it is so dan- 
gerous.” 

“I shall never give it up while I can drag myself 
into the bush,” said her husband. ‘‘Once a hunter, 
always a hunter, Sassa.” 

Long before he had recovered from his wounds, 
and while he was too weak to walk, he would creep 
on his hands and knees into the bush, and lie there 
all day. His wife tried to persuade him to stay in 
the hut, but he said if he couldn’t hunt the animals, 

he could at least watch them. 

[ 41 ] 


THE MASTER WEAVER 


One day as Malla was lying on his back, looking 
up at the trees, he saw a spider making a net, so he 



said to him, “ Y ou also, my lord spider, are a great 
hunter.” 

‘‘If you had made a trap like this, and caught the 

[ 42 ] 


THE MASTER WEAVER 


bush-cow in it, you would not have been hurt,” re- 
plied the spider. 

“It would have been much better,” Malla agreed. 



i 

“I think I will make a net of bush-rope.” 

Now bush-rope is the stem of a creeping plant 
which grows in African forests, and is very strong 
[ 43 ] 


THE MASTER WEAVER 


and tough ; so Malla took the thickest he could find, 
and made a net, and put it between two bushes. 

Then in the morning when he went to look at it, 
he found bush-deer, earth-pigs, and porcupines 
struggling in it. “I told you it would be a good 
thing,” said the spider. 

Then Malla made another net, and it was made 
better than the first, and then he made a third one 
which was better still, and made of finer rope. 

One day Sassa said to him, “If you could weave 
a very fine net, I would wear it;” for like all the 
other women who lived in the forest, she had 
nothing to wear but a kind of coarse cloth made of 
bark, which shrank when it was wet. 

Malla said he was willing to try, but he could not 
make the cloth of the right shape, and so he went 
to the spider again. 

“I make my net on sticks,” said the spider ; “and 
you must do the same thing. But why should you, 
who are a mighty hunter, waste your time making 
dresses for your wife?” 

Then Malla hunted around until he found some 
[ 44 ] 


THE MASTER WEAVER 


very fine rope, and fixed his sticks near the spider’s 
web, so he could see just how he made it. Then he 



wove a piece of cloth which was the right shape, 
and pleased Sassa very much. 


One day she showed him a place where some 
long, silky grass grew, and then said to him, “If 
[ 45 ] 


THE MASTER WEAVER 


you can make the cloth of this grass, instead of the 
bush-rope, it would be finer still.” 

So Malla showed some of it to the spider. “I 



have made nets of thick bush-rope and thin bush- 
rope. Can I make one out of this?” he asked. 

Then the spider growled out, “Women are never 
satisfied,” but he was a good-natured spider on the 
whole, and showed Malla how to weave a fine, 

[ 46 ] 


THE HASTER WEAVER 


beautiful cloth of grass, of which Sassa was very 
proud. 



All the other women envied her as she wrapped 
herself in it and walked past the other huts. “How 
lucky she is,” they said. “Her husband is not only 
[ 47 ] 


THE MASTER WEAVER 


a mighty hunter, but he can make finer cloth than 
anyone else.” 

Malla continued to make bush-rope nets to catch 
game, and was so successful that he and his friends 
feasted all the year round. 

Both he and Sassa lived to a great age, and saw 
their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Even 
when he was old and grey-headed, he was called 
“The Great Hunter;” but when they called him, in 
addition, “The Master Weaver,” he would point to 
the bush where the spider wove his silvery web : 

“He taught me all I know,” he said. “He is the 
Master Weaver!” 



[ 48 ] 


THE FLYING LION 




4— The Alan Elephant 







I 







The Flying Lion 


The wonder is that the Great Frog did not meet a princess with 
gold bracelets on her arms and red flowers in her hair, 
sooner than he did. However, it is an excellent story. 


NE of the most clever girls who ever 
lived was a king’s daughter named 
Pearl Blossom. She was so clever 
that every one came to her for 
advice. 

She knew what medicine to give 
people when they were sick, the kind of herbs and 
[ 53 ] 



THE FLYING LION 


plants which were good to eat, and the crops which 
would grow best in different kinds of soil. 

She could tell when it was going to rain, and 
when the rain would clear; and she understood 
what animals said to each other. There was just 
one thing she did not know, and that was how to 
get rid of the Flying Lion. 

Now the Flying Lion was a very terrible beast. 
He devoured everything he came across; and had 
built himself a house, or palace, of the bones of the 
creatures he had eaten. 

Pearl Blossom would have been perfectly happy 
if it had not been for the Flying Lion, for the very 
thought of him made her sad. 

“He is like a cloud hanging over our village,’ ” 
she said to her father, one day. “When the women 
go to the river to wash, or the children go outdoors 
to play, no one knows how many will come back.” 

“It is a terrible thing to think about, of course,” 
replied her father. “Some one should get rid of 
him, but a woman cannot do it. Don’t think about 
the Flying Lion.” 


[ 54 ] 


THE FLYING LION 


You see, the old King had no great opinion of his 
daughter’s abilities, and he thought her rather 
spoiled by the fuss his people made over her. But 
this was not so. Pearl Blossom was too sensible to 



be conceited. She was kind and good, and wanted 
to help others as much as possible. 

One morning, Pearl Blossom went into the forest 
to gather roots, and pretty soon came to a place 
where a tall woman was sitting at the foot of a 
cotton-tree. 


[ 55 ] 


THE FLYING LION 


The woman was fair of face, with hair like red 
gold, and she wore a long, trailing white garment. 
“Who are you?” asked Pearl Blossom. “I never 
saw you before.” 

“You haven’t seen me before, although I have 
always been here,” the woman replied. “I whis- 
pered in your ear all you know about the things in 
the forest. How did you think you learned so much 
about animals and plants?” 

“Why, I just thought about them as I sat under 
the trees,” said Pearl Blossom, after a little pause. 

“It was I who taught you,” said the woman. 
“My name is Gulu, and I live inside the cotton-tree. 
Would you like to see my home?” 

“Indeed I would,” said Pearl Blossom. 

So Gulu led her through the door into the tree, 
and there was the loveliest little house she had ever 
seen. The carpet was green moss, the walls were 
covered with beautiful flowers, and it was lighted 
by fire-flies and glow-worms. 

Pearl Blossom was delighted with what she saw, 
and said so. Then she and Gulu sat down and began 

[ 56 ] 


THE FLYING LION 


to talk. “We are old friends; for although you 
have never seen me, I have told you nearly all my 
secrets. Is there anything else you want to know?” 

“I want to know how to get rid of the Flying 
Lion,” replied Pearl Blossom. “Can you tell me 
how to do it?” 

Gulu was silent for quite a little while. Then at 
length she said : “It will be rather difficult ; yes, the 
most difficult thing you could have asked me. But 
if you will stay with me for three months, it can be 
done.” 

“Why must I stay three whole months?” asked 
Pearl Blossom. 

“Because, in the first place it will take you a 
month to weave an invisible robe for yourself ; and 
unless you have one, you can’t meddle with the 
Flying Lion.” 

“I suppose if he should see me, that would be the 
end of it.” 

“Indeed it would, and of you, too,” said Gulu. 
“Then after the robe is made, you will have to learn 
the language of the crows and the frogs. That will 

[ 57 ] 


THE FLYING LION 


take two months, because they are more difficult to 
understand than the rest of the animals. ,, 

“But I must go home first and tell my parents 
where I am” 

“Indeed you must not,” replied Gulu. “No one 
must know where you are, or the Flying Lion will 
hear of it and know what you are doing.” 

“I must get rid of the Flying Lion,” said Pearl 
Blossom ; “so it will be best for me to stay.” 

But the King and Queen were distracted with 
grief when night came and the Princess had not 
come back from the forest, so they sent the bush- 
men in every direction in search of her. They 
sought for many days, but could not find her, and 
every one thought the Flying Lion had eaten her. 

All this time Pearl Blossom sat in the cotton-tree 
house weaving herself a robe which would make 
her invisible wherever she went. And when it was 
finished she learned the language of the crows and 
the frogs. 

Then, when the three months were at an end, 
Gulu told her she would better go and listen to the 

[ 58 ] 


THE FLYING LION 


crows in the forest and find out what to do about 
the Flying Lion. 

So Pearl Blossom put on her invisible robe and 
crept up close to the crows to hear what they had 
to say. 



“I don’t know just what it is,” said one of them, 
“but there is some secret about his wings. The 
white crows know it, but they dare not tell.” 

“He leaves two white crows to guard the bones 
every day when he goes hunting,” said a young 
[ 59 ] 


THE FLYING LION 


crow. “There are piles and piles of them, and he 
won’t have one of them broken. I have seen them,” 
he added proudly. 

“What is all this about bones?” asked a very old 
crow. He could not fly as far as the younger ones, 
and was inclined not to pay much attention to 
their wonderful tales. 

“Why, the bones of the creatures the Flying Lion 
has eaten,” replied the young crow. “He has built 
a house with them over there where the sun goes 
down,” nodding towards the west. “I know it, for 
I have seen it,” he added, puffing out his breast 
with a great deal of importance. 

“I must see that house myself,” thought Pearl 
Blossom; “and I must hear what the white crows 
say to each other. Perhaps they will let out the 
secret.” 

So Pearl Blossom went away through the forest, 
and walked for a long time before she reached the 
house where the white crows were. 

The way through the forest was very difficult, 
too. Sometimes the bush-rope caught her feet and 
[ 60 ] 


THE FLYING LION 


threw her down; sometimes she had to creep over 
great fallen trees ; and again she had to creep under 
bushes. 



It was very fortunate that she could talk to the 
animals, for the bush-crows and the monkeys and 
[ 61 ] 


THE FLYING LION 


the snails showed her the way, and were all very 
kind to her. 

It took some time for them to get used to her 
way of appearing and disappearing, and of course, 
it puzzled them, for she had to slip off her invisible 
robe while she spoke to them. 

“Human beings are queer creatures at the best 
of times,” said the snake to the monkey. “Being 
a Princess makes her a little queerer, I suppose.” 

The white crows were flying round and round 
the Flying Lion’s house when Pearl Blossom got 
there. The house was very large, all built of bones, 
and there was a pile of bones in front of it three 
times as high as the Princess. After a while the 
white crows settled on a tree near her, and began 
to talk. 

“I wish I knew one thing,” said the first one. 
“Why doesn’t he want any of the bones broken? 
Can you tell me that?” 

“The only person who knows is the Great Frog,” 
answered the other. 


[ 62 ] 


THE FLYING LION 


Pearl Blossom was disappointed. “They don’t 
know the secret after all,” she said to herself. 

“What Great Frog?” asked one of the crows. 
“Do you mean the Great Frog who lives in the 
pond behind the house?” 

The other crow nodded his head. 

“But he won’t tell it until he is asked by a Prin- 



cess with gold bracelets on her arm and red flowers 
in her hair. I have heard that ever since I was 
born.” 

The moment Pearl Blossom heard this, she hur- 

[ 63 ] 


THE FLYING LION 


ried away to the pond behind the house, for she had 
gold bracelets on her arm and red flowers in her 
hair. 

The Great Frog was sunning himself on the bank 
when the Princess came up. He was green in 
color, with a white chest, and he was three feet 
high and one foot broad. 

Pearl Blossom, who never knew what it was to 
be afraid, slipped off her invisible robe and went up 
to him. 

“Well,” he said when he learned what Pearl 
Blossom wanted, “if the Flying Lion is doing as 
much damage as that, it is time to stop him.” 

“But can you do it?” asked Pearl Blossom 
anxiously. 

“Anyone can do it who knows the secret of the 
bones,” replied the Great Frog. “If the bones are 
broken, he won’t be able to fly any more.” 

“Then will you go and break them?” asked the 
Princess. 


[ 64 ] 



5 — The Man Elephant 





THE FLYING LION 


“Nothing would give me more pleasure,” replied 
the frog politely, and off he went by leaps and 
bounds to the Flying Lion’s house, and pulled it 
down and broke all the bones in pieces. 

Then he called out to the white crows: “Tell 



your master, if he wants me, to come to the pond 
and look for me !” 

Pretty soon the lion came crashing through the 
bushes in a great rage. 

“I can’t fly !” he cried out. “What have you done 
that I can’t fly?” he asked the white crows. 

[ 67 ] 


THE FLYING LION 


“We haven’t done anything,” they replied. “The 
Great Frog has been here and broken the bones. 
He says if you want him you may go to the pond.” 

Then the lion stopped roaring and crept softly 
towards the water to catch the frog, who was sit- 
ting on the bank. But the Great Frog slipped into 



the water just as he was within a yard of him, and 
dived to the other side and sat there. 

* Then the lion crept round to the other side, but 
again the frog was too quick for him, and he could 
not catch him. He tried time and time again to 
catch him, but at last had to give it up and go away. 

[ 68 ] 


THE FLYING LION 


Since then lions have never had any wings, but 
are obliged to walk on their feet like other animals. 

As for Pearl Blossom, the Great Frog had fallen 
so much in love with her that he wanted to marry 
her. She thanked him, but now that the lion had 
lost his wings she must go back to her father and 
mother. 

And how delighted her parents were to see her; 
and when the people of the village heard that the 
Flying Lion would trouble them no more, there 
was great feasting and rejoicing in every house. 



[ 69 ] 






/ 
















KING MUNGO 














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% 








«T 

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King Mungo 

Probably the mischief making propensities of the Jackal have 
never been better set forth than in this relation of 
certain happenings in the realm of King Mungo. 

WISE old baboon was King Mungo 
— not quite so wise, perhaps, as he 
imagined, which is often the case 
f Tjvvl with many of us; but quite sensi- 
I m ble enough to be a good ruler over 

his part of the forest. 

He could swing himself from one branch to 
another, by his long arms, nearly as quickly as 
[ 75 ] 


KING MUNGO 


lightning, and could run so fast and far that no one 
could catch him. 



At this time, King Mungo walked on two legs, 
and he was respected for this more than anything 
else. But you will soon see that this is the sad story 
[ 76 ] 


KING MUNGO 


of how he, and all the baboons after him, lost the 
power of walking erect, and had to go on all fours, 
like the rest of the animals. 



Of all King Mungo’s subjects, the largest was 
an elephant, and the smallest one an ant. Besides 
these, his kingdom contained a dog, a cat, a mouse, 
[ 77 ], 


KING MUNGO 


a pool of water, a stick, and a fire lit among the 
brambles. 

Of course, you have seen water put out fire, with 
a great fizz and splutter; but the strange thing 
about King Mungo’s fire was that however much 
water was thrown on the fire, the fire burned all the 
better for it. King Mungo said, “That’s because 
they are friends.” 

And so it went on. The cat would never bite the 
mouse; and the cat and the dog played nicely 
together. The stick went quietly about its business 
without beating the dog; and the ant never even 
dreamed of giving the elephant a nip. 

They all lived in peace and harmony together 
until one day a wretched little tailor, named Klit, 
came to the King to complain of the holes some 
one had made in his cloth. 

You know how often it is, just when we are en- 
joying ourselves most, somebody comes and inter- 
feres, and spoils things. It was just like that in 

King Mungo’s kingdom. They were all as happy 
[ 78 ] 


KING MUNGO 


as they could be, when Klit, the tailor, brought 
the King a piece of cloth with six holes in it. 
v “I must have satisfaction, Your Majesty,” he 
said. “I thought the mouse had done this, but she 



blames the cat, and the cat says she saw my cloth 
in the dog's mouth. 

“But the dog says it was the stick ; the stick de- 
clares it was the fire; and the fire says the water 
did it. The water denies it, and says the elephant 
[ 79 ] 


KING MUNGO 


tore the cloth ; and the elephant lays the blame on 
the ant.” 

King Mungo put on his most judicial air. 
“Well” he said. 

“As long as they are all quarreling about it,” 
continued the tailor, “I suggest, Your Majesty, that 
you bring them together and try them, so that we 
may find out the truth.” 

“Dear me! Quarreling? Why, such a thing 
has never happened before. Pray take a seat; I 
will talk it over with my Prime Minister, and see 
what can be done. Quarreling! Well!” 

So Klit sat down cross-legged on the grass, and 
pulled out his thimble and thread. 

“Here, here! Don't darn the holes. What are 
you thinking about? If you darn them, they’ll say 
there never were any,” said the wise baboon. 

“Whatever you do, don’t consult your Prime 
Minister,” retorted the tailor. “He is sure to give 
you some foolish advice.” 

Now King Mungo was very much annoyed at 
this. He had great faith in the jackal, who was his 
[ 80 ] 


KING MUNGO 


Prime Minister; and besides, like other royal per- 
sonages, he did not like to be addressed in a rude 
and familiar manner. 

However, what the tailor said was true. The 
jackal was a mischievous fellow, and people who 



took his advice were generally sorry for it after- 
wards. 

But King Mungo told his Prime Minister what 
had happened, and they consulted together for a 
long time. Then the King nodded his head, and 
the jackal went off to assemble his subjects. 

So they all appeared before the King. There 

6— The Man Elephant [ 81 ] 


KING MUNGO 


was the little brown mouse, the cat, the black curly 
dog, the stick, and next to the stick the fire was 
burning, and at the other side of the fire was the 
pool of water. Beyond the water stood the ele- 
phant, and next to him, on the top of a blade of 
grass, was a tiny black ant. 

Then King Mungo began. “Klit,” he said, “hold 
up your cloth. ,, 

“Yes, Your Majesty,” and the tailor held up the 
cloth, and there were six round holes in it. 

“Now tell me which of you has done this,” com- 
manded the King. 

“The mouse !” cried Klit. 

“The cat !” squeaked the mouse. 

“The dog !” said the cat. 

“The stick !” growled the dog. 

“The fire!” shouted the stick. 

“The water !” hissed the fire. 

“The elephant !” roared the water. 

“The ant !” trumpeted the elephant. 

“Your Majesty,” said the jackal, “you see, none 
of them will confess.” 


[ 82 ] 


KING MUNGO 


“Silence !” commanded the King. “The best thing 
will be for them to punish each other. Klit, you 
accuse the mouse ?” 

“I do, Your Majesty,” answered the tailor. 

“Then, cat, bite the mouse !” 

And the cat bit the mouse as hard as she could. 

“Where are you, mouse? Do you accuse the 
cat?” 



“I certainly do,” squeaked the mouse. 

“Here, dog, bite the cat !” 

The dog growled and buried his teeth in the cat’s 
fur. 

“Now, cat, you accuse the dog?” 

[ 83 ] 


KING MUNGO 


“Your Majesty, I accuse the dog.” 

“Stick, beat the dog !” 

“It was the fire that did it,” said the stick in a 
sulky tone. 

“Then, fire, bum the stick ! 

“Water, put out the fire ! 

“Elephant, drink the water! 



“Ant, bite the elephant!” commanded the King. 

“Just think of it!” cried the jackal, capering 
about with delight. “There will be no peace in this 
kingdom for many a long day .” 

Now you see what a mischievous rascal the jackal 
was, for it turned out just as he wanted it to. From 
that time to this, the cat has always bitten the 
[ 84 ] 


KING MUNGO 


mouse; the dog the cat, and the ant the elephant; 
while fire has burned wood, and water quenched 


fire. 


“Thanks to your advice, I have made a nice mess 
of it,” said the King to his Prime Minister. 

But that was not the worst of it. As a punish- 
ment for his foolishness, King Mungo lost the 
power of walking on two legs, and had to go on all 
fours like the rest of the animals. 

He lost his name of Mungo, too ; and since tli^n 
he and all of his race have been called just baboons. 



[ 85 ] 











UNCLE LION 








ft 




Providing the circumstance from which the phrase “ Taking 
the Lion’s Share ” has been derived. Inferentially 
all other accounts are inaccurate. 


LWAYS when the lion went out 
hunting he took Kanja, the jackal, 
with him, for Kanja was a much 
better hunter than he. 

But whenever the jackal had 
killed the game, he would say, 
“That is mine, Uncle Lion !” Then the lion would 
look at him with such an angry glare that Kanja 
[ 91 ] 





UNCLE LION 


would contradict himself at once, and say, “No, it 
is yours, of course !” Then Uncle Lion would eat 
it up, and Kanja would go hungry. 

“You see, I only take the lion’s share,” Uncle 
Lion would explain. 

“Yes, I have noticed it,” replied the jackal. 



“What is your idea of the lion’s share?” asked 
the lion, with one eye on Kanja. 

“Everything, Uncle Lion,” answered poor Kanja. 
“Very well. You shall hunt with me again to- 
morrow,” said the lion approvingly. 

When the next day came, however, Kanja 
[ 92 ] 


UNCLE LION 


avoided Uncle Lion, and went off to hunt on his 
own account. 

After a while he met a friend of his, the leopard, 
flying across the plains as though a dozen hunters 
were after him. 



“What seems to be the matter ?” asked the jackal. 

“I am really in a hurry,” replied the leopard. 
“Don’t stop me. There is a terrible beast looking 
out of the door of a hut, a little way back ! It has 
great horns and is four times as big as you. I must 
be going.” 


[ 93 ] 


UNCLE LION 


“But wait a minute !” said the jackal, and caught 
hold of the leopard, and insisted on hearing more 
about the creature which had frightened him. 

In a minute he began to laugh. “Why, it is 
only a ram !” he cried. “He can’t do you any harm. 
We will go and catch him for dinner. I am almost 
starved.” 

Kanja found it rather hard work to persuade him, 
but at last, when the leopard heard how badly the 
lion had treated his friend the day before, he agreed 
to go with him. 

“But you must tie me to you,” said the leopard, 
with his teeth chattering. “I shall be sure to run 
when I see him.” 

So Kanja fastened a leather thong around both 
their bodies, and dragged him along at a great rate. 
“Don’t let Uncle Lion catch us,” he whispered, 
looking from side to side. “If he took the lion’s 
share this time, I should die of hunger.” 

When the ram saw them coming, he was more 
frightened than the leopard had been, so he ran 
back to the hut and told his wife. 

[ 94 ] 


UNCLE LION 


“I don’t know what we are going to do,” he 
cried. “Kanja and his friend the leopard are com- 
ing to devour us !” 

“Oh, that’s nonsense !” answered his wife. “Here 
take the child and go out to meet them.” Then 
she gave him their little kid, and told him to pinch 
it and make it cry. 

“But I don’t understand,” said her husband, who 
was really very stupid. 

“Do just as I tell you,” said his wife. “You must 
shout in a terrible tone, ‘J ust in time ! Just in time ! 
My child is crying for food!’ Then you’ll see what 
will happen!” 

When the leopard saw the ram, with his terrible 
horns coming towards them, he would have run 
away there and then if the jackal had not pulled 
him forward. Just then the ram gave his child a 
pinch, and the little kid began to cry. 

“I am glad to see you, Kanja,” he cried. “You 
have brought the leopard just in time. My child 
is crying for food.” 

“This is no place for me !” cried the leopard.. “Let 

[ 95 ] 


UNCLE LION 


us be off.” And so they both tugged at the leather 
thong, Kanja determined to go on, and the leopard 
to go back. 

But the leopard was much the stronger, and in 
a minute or two he was dragging the jackal along 
at a terrible pace. They rushed on and on, until 



they were out of sight of the ram, and then Kanja 
fell down exhausted. He was too faint with hun- 
ger to go any farther, but the leopard, who could 
not get over his fright, unfastened the thong and 
went on. 

After a while, a wagon loaded with fish came 
[ 96 ] 


UNCLE LION 


past, and as it was going very slowly, the jackal 
tried to jump into it from behind. 

“Even fish is better than nothing,” he said to 
himself, but he was too weak to manage it, and 
the wagon passed along. 



But there was another following it at a little dis- 
tance, and this time Kanja stretched himself in 
front of it as though he were dead. 

“What is this?” said the driver, when he saw the 

7— The Man Elephant [ 97 ] 


UNCLE LION 


jackal stretched out in the road. “His skin will 
make a nice cloak for my daughter.” 

So the driver picked him up and threw him into 
the wagon, which was exactly what Kanja wanted. 
He had no idea of being made into a cloak for the 
driver’s daughter, but he did wish to be near the 
fish. 

When Kanja had satisfied his hunger, he began 
to throw the fish out into the road, one by one. 
The daylight failed and the moon rose, but he was 
still busy with this, until the fishes lay like a silver 
streak as far along the track as he could see. 

At last he jumped out of the wagon. “Four hun- 
dred!” he cried. “One for every day in the year, 
and thirty-five over. Now I must carry them to a 
place where Uncle Lion won’t find them,” 

But while he was collecting them, a hyena came 
up and ate as many as she wanted without asking 
his permission. 

“Here, you ! Leave my fish alone !” cried Kanja 
angrily. 

“They are no more your fish than mine,” replied 

[ 98 ] 





UNCLE LION 


the hyena. “Your fish, indeed! Why they have 
fallen out of the wagon.” 

Kanja was too much annoyed to speak, so he 
went on gathering up the fish, and thinking of a 
way to punish her. 

“There is another wagon coming,” he said at 
last. “Lie down in the road, and you will get as 
many fish as I did.” 

The hyena opened her eyes. “Really?” she 
asked. 

“Really. But you must keep perfectly still. Pre- 
tend to be dead.” 

The fur of a hyena is not soft and silky like that 
of a jackal, so when the driver saw her stretched 
out in front of the wagon, he kicked her out of the 
way. 

“Great, ugly thing !” he said. “What is it doing 
here?” Then he looked around for a stick to beat 
her with, and as she moved a little he cried out, “Oh, 
she’s not dead at all. Get up, you stupid, and be 
off!” 

After the wagon had gone on, the hyena limped 

LOFC. [101 J 


UNCLE LION 


away to tell Kanja what had happened, “There 
was no fish,” she said, “and I am beaten to a jelly.” 

“You have probably made some mistake,” said 
the jackal politely. “Are you sure you laid per- 
fectly still?” he asked, “and right in the middle of 
the track?” 



“I lay perfectly still in the middle of the track,” 
replied the hyena. 

“Then it must be that the driver didn’t think 
you handsome enough to make a cloak. That’s it, 
dear friend. Your want of beauty is your misfor- 
tune and not your fault,” said Kanja in a sym- 
pathetic tone. 


[ 102 ] 


UNCLE LION 


“It certainly is a great misfortune to be plain,” 
sighed the hyena, with tears in her eyes. 

“But it is a still greater one to be stupid !” added 
Kanja, as he ran off with another fish in his mouth. 

“I wonder what he meant?” said the hyena to 
herself. 



[ 103 ] 


























SEP 22 1906 


fa- ■r 




